Short story by Setsuko Nagata about the title character whom the narrator meets while serving as a waitress at a
Tanforan Assembly Center
mess hall. The man, named Mr. Mine, takes a liking to the narrator and shares Chinese poetry with her. When they move to the
Topaz
, Utah, concentration camp, he visits her on occasion, but when he requests repatriation, he moves to
Tule Lake
. The narrator hears that he eventually did return to his native Kumamoto, Japan.

The author, Setsuko Nagata, was
Kibei
and wrote the story in Japanese in 1949. It was published in the anthology
Ayumi
in 1980 in both Japanese and English.

For More Information

Nagata, Setsuko. "The Old Man on Crutches." In
Ayumi: A Japanese American Anthology
. Edited by Janice Mirikitani, et al. San Francisco: Japanese American Anthology Committee, 1980. 38–42.

Learn more in the Densho Encyclopedia, a free on-line resource covering the key concepts, people, events, and organizations that played a role in the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

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Teacher Guide

Learn more in the Densho Encyclopedia, a free on-line resource covering the key concepts, people, events, and organizations that played a role in the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

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The Resource Guide to Media on the Japanese American Removal and Incarceration is a free project of Densho. Our mission is to preserve the testimonies of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II before their memories are extinguished. We offer these irreplaceable firsthand accounts, coupled with historical images and teacher resources, to explore principles of democracy, and promote equal justice for all.